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Dhanush Shivaramaiah
Why is it that all group 15 element's trihalides except Nitrogen on hydrolysis gives an acid while Nitrogen trichloride give ammonia which is a base on hydrolysis?
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The more important factor is that of oxidation state. All other "halides" on hydrolysis give hydrogen halides. The compound of nitrogen and chlorine gives hypochlorous acid.Dhanush Shivaramaiah said:Why is it that all group 15 element's trihalides except Nitrogen on hydrolysis gives an acid while Nitrogen trichloride give ammonia which is a base on hydrolysis?
But all the pnictides have an oxidation state of +3 in the trichlorides.snorkack said:The more important factor is that of oxidation state.
Because nitrogen has a lower electronegativity than chlorine.By which excuse is the compound of chlorine and nitrogen called nitrogen chloride and not chlorine nitride?
By which evidence?TeethWhitener said:But all the pnictides have an oxidation state of +3 in the trichlorides.
By which evidence?TeethWhitener said:Because nitrogen has a lower electronegativity than chlorine.
And NH2OH is not oxidation state +3, it is -1. While N(OH)3 is completely unstable, a common long-lived species in dilute aqueous solutions is HNO2. So if NCl3 were nitrogen trichloride, you might expect the substitution:TeethWhitener said:In simple terms, you can think of the reaction as a straight substitution of OH- for Cl-:
$$ ACl_3+3H_2O\to A(OH)_3+3HCl$$
This works as advertised for arsenic and phosphorus, although phosphorus mainly converts to the tautomeric (OH)2HP=O, phosphorous acid. The problem with the nitrogen case is that N(OH)3 is completely unstable. You're never going to see it in solution. Instead, you might expect to see a complex mixture of NH2OH or various nitrogen oxides, as well as a mixture of chloramines. Nitrogen in its +3 oxidation state is also a pretty good oxidizer,
And therefore it would be chlorine that is oxidized, not water.TeethWhitener said:so what ultimately ends up happening is that you "oxidize" water to HOCl. (The oxidation state of O doesn't change in this case, but Cl goes from -1 to +1.)
A decent piece of evidence is the fact that the dipole moment in NCl3 points in the opposite direction of NH3. This means the electron distribution is shifted toward the nitrogen in NH3 but away from the nitrogen in NCl3.snorkack said:By which evidence?
This would be fine, but the concept of oxidation state 1) works well in a lot of cases, and 2) the electric charge in the vicinity of a nucleus tracks oxidation states rather closely and absolutely can be measured (via XPS, for example). Oxidation state has its problems, but it's a pretty decent shorthand for horribly complicated electrostatics.Borek said:"Oxidation state" is a weak argument no matter which way you will try to use it - there is no way to measure it, in general it is more of an accounting device that any real property of an atom.
According to this JACS article:snorkack said:How is the hydrolysis mechanism of monochloramine?
Hydroxylamine is a well described species.
Why does the reaction
NH2OH+HCl<->NH2Cl+H2O
not happen, in either direction, so that the only reaction is
NH3+HClO<->NH2Cl+H2O?
Group 15 elements, also known as the nitrogen family, are a group of elements located on the periodic table in the p-block. These elements include nitrogen, phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, and bismuth.
Group 15 elements can exhibit both acidic and basic properties, depending on their chemical environment. Nitrogen, phosphorus, and arsenic tend to act as bases, while antimony and bismuth are more likely to behave as acids.
The chemical environment, specifically the strength of the element's bonds and the presence of other elements, plays a role in determining if a Group 15 element will act as an acid or base. For example, nitrogen may act as a base in the presence of a strong acid, but as an acid in the presence of a strong base.
Group 15 elements are known for their reactivity, especially with oxygen. They can form both covalent and ionic compounds, and their reactions can vary depending on the element's oxidation state and the strength of its bonds.
Group 15 elements have a variety of applications in industry and technology. Nitrogen is used in fertilizers and explosives, phosphorus is used in detergents and pesticides, and arsenic is used in semiconductors. Bismuth is commonly used in cosmetics and medications.